Dynamic Probe Class Library Programming Guide

Standard DPCL Programming Tasks

This section contains instructions for performing common tasks that all programs built on the DPCL system will need to perform. These instructions are divided into the following chapters.

• Chapter 4, Performing status error checking provides general information on DPCL error checking.
• Chapter 5, Initializing the analysis tool to use the DPCL system describes standard initialization tasks that your analysis tool must perform.
• Chapter 6, Connecting to or starting the target application processes describes how your analysis tool can:
  • if the target application is already running, establish a connection to each process in the target application. The analysis tool must establish a connection to a target application process if it is to later dynamically insert probes into that process.
  • create one or more target application processes if the target application is not already running. When an analysis tool creates a process, the DPCL system also establishes the connection necessary for inserting probes into the process.
• Chapter 7, Controlling execution of target application processes describes how an analysis tool can attach itself to a target application process in order to control execution of the process. It describes how an application can, once in this attached state, use DPCL function calls to suspend, resume, or kill one or more target application process.
• Chapter 8, Creating probes describes how to create DPCL probes that can execute as part of a target application process. It describes how, once you have determined the logic you want the probe to perform, you can create the analysis tool code to build a probe expression to represent that logic. Since the programmatic capabilities of simple probe expressions are limited and not reusable among analysis tools, this chapter also describes how a probe expression can optionally call a function written in C and compiled into a probe module.
• Chapter 9, Executing probes in target application processes describes the steps that your program must follow to insert a probe into one or more target application process for execution. The manner in which a probe is installed and executed within the target application process(es) distinguishes the probe as a particular probe type -- either a point probe, a phase probe, or a one-shot probe. This chapter contains instructions for installing a probe as any one of these probe types.
• Chapter 10, Creating data callback routines describes how an analysis tool can create a "data callback routine" to respond to data sent back to the analysis tool from probes executing within target application processes.
• Chapter 11, Entering and exiting the DPCL main event loop describes how an analysis tool can enter an event loop to interface asynchronously with the DPCL system.
• Chapter 12, Disconnecting from target application processes describes how an analysis tool can disconnect itself from processes it has finished examining, and exit from the DPCL main event loop.
• Chapter 13, Compiling and linking the analysis tool describes how to compile your analysis tool with the DPCL library and include files.

Instructions for other, more advanced and/or less-commonly performed, DPCL programming tasks (monitoring signals and file descriptors, overriding default system callbacks, and generating diagnostic logs) are contained in Additional DPCL Programming Tasks.